S 5416: Establishes the class D felony of criminal street gang recruitment on school grounds which occurs when an individual on school grounds coerces, solicits, recruits or induces another person to join or remain a member of a criminal street gang, or conspires to do so.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5416 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE February 21, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. LANZA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to criminal street gang recruitment on school grounds The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 460.10 of the penal law is amended by adding four 2 new subdivisions 5, 6, 7 and 8 to read as follows: 3 5. "Criminal street gang" means any ongoing organization, association, 4 or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, having as 5 one of its primary activities the commission of one or more criminal 6 acts, which has an identifiable name or identifying sign or symbol, and 7 whose members individually or collectively engage in or have engaged in 8 criminal street gang activity. 9 6. "Criminal street gang member" means a person to whom two or more of 10 the following criteria apply: 11 (a) admits to criminal street gang membership; 12 (b) is identified as a criminal street gang member by a documented 13 reliable informant; 14 (c) resides in or frequents a particular criminal street gang's area 15 and adopts its style of dress, its use of hand signals or its tattoos 16 and associates with known criminal street gang members; 17 (d) has been arrested more than once in the company of known criminal 18 street gang members for offenses which are consistent with usual crimi- 19 nal street gang activity; 20 (e) is identified as a criminal street gang member by physical 21 evidence, such as photographs or other documentation; 22 (f) has been stopped in the company of known criminal street gang 23 members four or more times; 24 (g) has been identified as a criminal street gang member by other law 25 enforcement agencies; or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD09504-01-5 
 S. 5416 2 1 (h) is identified as a criminal street gang member by a family member. 2 7. "Criminal street gang activity" means the commission or attempted 3 commission of, or solicitation or conspiracy to commit, two or more 4 criminal acts that: 5 (a) were committed on separate occasions within a five year period; 6 (b) are neither isolated incidents, nor so closely related and 7 connected in point of time or circumstance of commission as to consti- 8 tute a criminal offense or criminal transaction, as such terms are 9 defined in section 40.10 of the criminal procedure law; and 10 (c) further a criminal street gang by: (i) being related to one 11 another through a common scheme or plan; or (ii) were committed, solic- 12 ited, requested, importuned or intentionally aided by persons acting 13 with the mental culpability required for the commission of such criminal 14 acts and such person is a member of such criminal street gang. 15 8. "School grounds" means (a) in or on or within any building, struc- 16 ture, athletic playing field, playground or land contained within the 17 real property boundary line of a public or private elementary, parochi- 18 al, intermediate, junior high, vocational, or high school, or (b) any 19 area accessible to the public located within one thousand feet of the 20 real property boundary line comprising any such school or any parked 21 automobile or other parked vehicle located within one thousand feet of 22 the real property boundary line comprising any such school. For the 23 purpose of this subdivision, an "accessible area to the public" shall 24 mean sidewalks, streets, parking lots, parks, playgrounds, stores and 25 restaurants. 26 § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 460.65 to read 27 as follows: 28 § 460.65 Criminal street gang recruitment on school grounds. 29 A person is guilty of criminal street gang recruitment on school 30 grounds when, on school grounds, such person coerces, solicits, recruits 31 or induces another person to join or remain a member of a criminal 32 street gang, or conspires to do so. 33 Criminal street gang recruitment on school grounds is a class D felo- 34 ny. 35 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 36 have become a law.